About Baan Phaasaa Thai - my school
Sawatdii Khrap!
Hello again from the City of Angels. It's 95 beautiful degrees and the sun is strong! Believe it or not, it is fall here too and the weather is "cooling off". I am constantly amazed when seeing Thai people wearing jackets and shawls at night when the temperature drops to a chilly 76 degrees. Today is a day off from my language studies and I will take this opportunity to tell you about my studies and my school. When I arrived, I interviewed several schools. I had previously done quite a bit of research on the internet to narrow my choices down to three. One of the schools I did NOT choose was quite intriguing. The program involved a very long term learning situation in which the student does not speak any Thai for many classes. The student just listens and absorbs patterns of speech and tonality. The director of the program explained to me that it is modeled on how one learns to speak as a baby and young child. While it was intriguing, this approach does not suit my needs. With a ten week window in which to learn, it wasn't going to work for me personally. For someone committed to living here for several years, it might be a great choice.
The school I did select is called Baan Phaasaa Thai, which means Thai Language House. Below you can see some pictures of the school and my instructors. I was immediately impressed with the professionalism and confidence shown by the school's owner, Khun Yawwalak. The cost is reasonable for the one on one tutoring sessions. I have one primary instructor, Khun Awn. Ah! Perhaps I should explain the use of "Khun". In Thailand, Khun is used in a couple of ways. The first is as an honorific, Mr. Andy or Miss/Mrs. Awn. In that way it is similar to the use of the suffix "san" in Japanese. Khun is generally used with a person's given or nick name. The other use of the Khun comes when saying something like "are you going to school" or "how are you?" Thus my Primary instructor's name is Khun Awn. Khun Awn has a very good command of English and is good to talk to about cultural things as well. My secondary instructor is Khun Kate (pronounced "gate"). Khun Kate is a graduate student at Thailand's leading university, Chulalongkorn University. She is getting her Master's in English Literature. It is actually quite good to have more than one instructor since their teaching styles differ and they are from different parts of Thailand. Khun Awn is from the part of Thailand known as Isaan (Esan) which is nearest Laos and Cambodia. Khun Kate is from the Bangkok area. At some point I will probably also have a lesson from Khun Opal who is from yet a different area, Chiang Mai. Fortunately for me, my instructors are very patient.
My lessons are a mix of using a book created by Khun Yawwalak and conversations wherein I attempt to use my new vocabulary. I still have trouble with some sounds, but for the most part I understand sentence structure and my vocabulary is growing. I "hit the wall" Thursday and Friday of this week and felt like I regressed a bit, but I think that's pretty normal. It is good that I have two days off before starting back on Monday.
Every day the instructors go out to street vendors and buy food and bring it back to eat. Last week, they began bringing food back for me as well. It is amazingly inexpensive. I get far more food than I can eat for less than two dollars. Next week, I will try to accompany them at least once and order and purchase the food myself. I can already order some things, fruit is easy for instance. To order a meal, rice or noodles; chicken, pork or seafood; how spicy; what vegetables, etc. will be a good challenge. As far as having conversations, I am able to hold simple conversations with the housekeeper and various other people. I often recognize phrases or words in conversations between native Thai speakers and by watching body language I have some idea of what is going on.
The big news here lately has been related to a few different topics. Bird flu is still being seen and more recently a number of tigers at the Sri Racha Tiger Zoo have been put down. Sri Racha is not too far from here, but so far humans are not affected. I have my fingers crossed. The regime change in Myanmar has also been in the news quite a bit. There is concern over whether or not a loan will be in jeopardy. Taksin reassures the Thai people that the loan is between governments and the regime change should have no effect. The 'coup' appears to have been accomplished quickly and easily, but we all wait to see what will happen long term. I have heard conflicting ideas as to the status and future of the opposition groups. Some say they will have increased freedom to speak, some say less. Time will tell. In other big news, Cambodia's Norodam Sihanouk has abdicated and one of his sons has been named the next King. Many of you will remember him from Vietnam war days as a voice of moderation. That transition, too, has apparently happened without incident. I will be in Cambodia in a few weeks and may have more to say about the transition then.
Let's move on to the pet peeves section. I have two. The first is that the sidewalks here are perhaps the worst in the world. For a city as huge and modern as Bangkok is, one would think they could figure out how to make sidewalks that are at least somewhat level and that do not fall apart quickly. BUT NOOOOOO! I am glad to have very sturdy shoes which support my ankles well. It is annoying to have to walk with my eyes down most of the time. I feel like I miss so much. I cannot understand how Thai women (phuu ying Thai) can walk at all with the tiny heels most of them wear. Khun Awn, who is tiny, has told me it is because they are so small that they don't put much weight on their feet. Whatever..... Pet peeve number two is the motorcycle riders. Motorcycle is a common form of transport here. Using a motorcycle driver is both cheap and fast. The reason it is fast is because they manuever in and out of traffic like lunatics. As often as not, they use the sidewalks as well. When the taxi driver does not get close enough to the curb, I have to look to make sure no motorcycle is trying to get between the taxi and the curb before I open the door. I've had a few close calls where a motorcycle has nearly crashed into the door when I did NOT look. YIKES!!!
Thursday night, I went to Theetsakaan Kin Jee. I think that is what it is called. Every year in October for two weeks in Chinatown in, Bangkok, there is a vegetarian food festival. My friend, Ekvara who used to work for the same company I did in Denver, took me. She moved back to Thailand a couple of years ago. We had some different aahaan Jiin (Chinese food) and watched a lion dance. Sanuk sanuk! The funny part was watching the stage that was set up. There was a talent show of sorts going on. There were many groups of young girls performing Britney Spears type dance routines. We watched a few of them. Sorry, Jesse, we didn't meet them and none of them thought I was Santa Claus!
That's all for today. Tonight, Khun Awn will take me to see Isaan style dance and to eat Isaan style food. I should have some things to report on that excursion. I also owe you a discussion about spirit houses. I put that off since there is more to the story than I originally thought and I am still gathering data!
Laa la,Khrap
Andy
PS - by the way, the purple flower I posted earlier IS a Lotus.
As always email me at andym528@hotmail.com with any questions or comments
Hello again from the City of Angels. It's 95 beautiful degrees and the sun is strong! Believe it or not, it is fall here too and the weather is "cooling off". I am constantly amazed when seeing Thai people wearing jackets and shawls at night when the temperature drops to a chilly 76 degrees. Today is a day off from my language studies and I will take this opportunity to tell you about my studies and my school. When I arrived, I interviewed several schools. I had previously done quite a bit of research on the internet to narrow my choices down to three. One of the schools I did NOT choose was quite intriguing. The program involved a very long term learning situation in which the student does not speak any Thai for many classes. The student just listens and absorbs patterns of speech and tonality. The director of the program explained to me that it is modeled on how one learns to speak as a baby and young child. While it was intriguing, this approach does not suit my needs. With a ten week window in which to learn, it wasn't going to work for me personally. For someone committed to living here for several years, it might be a great choice.
The school I did select is called Baan Phaasaa Thai, which means Thai Language House. Below you can see some pictures of the school and my instructors. I was immediately impressed with the professionalism and confidence shown by the school's owner, Khun Yawwalak. The cost is reasonable for the one on one tutoring sessions. I have one primary instructor, Khun Awn. Ah! Perhaps I should explain the use of "Khun". In Thailand, Khun is used in a couple of ways. The first is as an honorific, Mr. Andy or Miss/Mrs. Awn. In that way it is similar to the use of the suffix "san" in Japanese. Khun is generally used with a person's given or nick name. The other use of the Khun comes when saying something like "are you going to school" or "how are you?" Thus my Primary instructor's name is Khun Awn. Khun Awn has a very good command of English and is good to talk to about cultural things as well. My secondary instructor is Khun Kate (pronounced "gate"). Khun Kate is a graduate student at Thailand's leading university, Chulalongkorn University. She is getting her Master's in English Literature. It is actually quite good to have more than one instructor since their teaching styles differ and they are from different parts of Thailand. Khun Awn is from the part of Thailand known as Isaan (Esan) which is nearest Laos and Cambodia. Khun Kate is from the Bangkok area. At some point I will probably also have a lesson from Khun Opal who is from yet a different area, Chiang Mai. Fortunately for me, my instructors are very patient.
My lessons are a mix of using a book created by Khun Yawwalak and conversations wherein I attempt to use my new vocabulary. I still have trouble with some sounds, but for the most part I understand sentence structure and my vocabulary is growing. I "hit the wall" Thursday and Friday of this week and felt like I regressed a bit, but I think that's pretty normal. It is good that I have two days off before starting back on Monday.
Every day the instructors go out to street vendors and buy food and bring it back to eat. Last week, they began bringing food back for me as well. It is amazingly inexpensive. I get far more food than I can eat for less than two dollars. Next week, I will try to accompany them at least once and order and purchase the food myself. I can already order some things, fruit is easy for instance. To order a meal, rice or noodles; chicken, pork or seafood; how spicy; what vegetables, etc. will be a good challenge. As far as having conversations, I am able to hold simple conversations with the housekeeper and various other people. I often recognize phrases or words in conversations between native Thai speakers and by watching body language I have some idea of what is going on.
The big news here lately has been related to a few different topics. Bird flu is still being seen and more recently a number of tigers at the Sri Racha Tiger Zoo have been put down. Sri Racha is not too far from here, but so far humans are not affected. I have my fingers crossed. The regime change in Myanmar has also been in the news quite a bit. There is concern over whether or not a loan will be in jeopardy. Taksin reassures the Thai people that the loan is between governments and the regime change should have no effect. The 'coup' appears to have been accomplished quickly and easily, but we all wait to see what will happen long term. I have heard conflicting ideas as to the status and future of the opposition groups. Some say they will have increased freedom to speak, some say less. Time will tell. In other big news, Cambodia's Norodam Sihanouk has abdicated and one of his sons has been named the next King. Many of you will remember him from Vietnam war days as a voice of moderation. That transition, too, has apparently happened without incident. I will be in Cambodia in a few weeks and may have more to say about the transition then.
Let's move on to the pet peeves section. I have two. The first is that the sidewalks here are perhaps the worst in the world. For a city as huge and modern as Bangkok is, one would think they could figure out how to make sidewalks that are at least somewhat level and that do not fall apart quickly. BUT NOOOOOO! I am glad to have very sturdy shoes which support my ankles well. It is annoying to have to walk with my eyes down most of the time. I feel like I miss so much. I cannot understand how Thai women (phuu ying Thai) can walk at all with the tiny heels most of them wear. Khun Awn, who is tiny, has told me it is because they are so small that they don't put much weight on their feet. Whatever..... Pet peeve number two is the motorcycle riders. Motorcycle is a common form of transport here. Using a motorcycle driver is both cheap and fast. The reason it is fast is because they manuever in and out of traffic like lunatics. As often as not, they use the sidewalks as well. When the taxi driver does not get close enough to the curb, I have to look to make sure no motorcycle is trying to get between the taxi and the curb before I open the door. I've had a few close calls where a motorcycle has nearly crashed into the door when I did NOT look. YIKES!!!
Thursday night, I went to Theetsakaan Kin Jee. I think that is what it is called. Every year in October for two weeks in Chinatown in, Bangkok, there is a vegetarian food festival. My friend, Ekvara who used to work for the same company I did in Denver, took me. She moved back to Thailand a couple of years ago. We had some different aahaan Jiin (Chinese food) and watched a lion dance. Sanuk sanuk! The funny part was watching the stage that was set up. There was a talent show of sorts going on. There were many groups of young girls performing Britney Spears type dance routines. We watched a few of them. Sorry, Jesse, we didn't meet them and none of them thought I was Santa Claus!
That's all for today. Tonight, Khun Awn will take me to see Isaan style dance and to eat Isaan style food. I should have some things to report on that excursion. I also owe you a discussion about spirit houses. I put that off since there is more to the story than I originally thought and I am still gathering data!
Laa la,Khrap
Andy
PS - by the way, the purple flower I posted earlier IS a Lotus.
As always email me at andym528@hotmail.com with any questions or comments